Rodgers has tight budget for January spending

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admits the forthcoming transfer window will not provide the answer to all his side’s problems.

The Reds boss does not have a great deal of cash at his disposal and with a deal virtually agreed for Chelsea forward Daniel Sturridge the pursuit of Blackpool winger Tom Ince continues.

But aside from that pair it seems unlikely there will be many more additions because of budgetary restraints.

Rodgers admits next season “the purse strings will be loosened” on the back of the influx of money from a new television deal but for now he is trying to make the best of his situation.

“We won’t be overly busy in January but some reinforcements will be nice, just the addition of some firepower to help us at the top end of the field,” he said.

“There won’t be a great deal of business done, we are probably just trying to get some of the business done which we hoped to do in the summer.

“The budget was going to be tight this year, for a number of reasons, but we will be doing something because it is the need of the group.

“From next season the purse strings should loosen a bit more but in terms of this season it was always on the understanding it was going to be tight in terms of finance.”

Rodgers has said he does not see much value or opportunity in the January window but he knows he must freshen up his squad and that is why he is trying to get his deals done early.

Having seen a move for Fulham’s Clint Dempsey flounder over finances on deadline day in August, the Liverpool manager is trying to correct the situation which left him with only one senior striker in Luis Suarez for four months.

Rodgers has always maintained he wants to bring a certain type of player to Anfield and he does not think he will have many options available to him in January.

But he needs a successful window in order to keep the critics at bay as defeat at Stoke yesterday left him with the same record as much-maligned former boss Roy Hodgson, having taken just 25 points from 19 league matches.

Hodgson lasted just one more game before getting the sack and, while no-one is suggesting there is a risk of Rodgers heading the same way, continual comparisons with that previous regime are not complimentary.

“We had hoped to do some business at the back end of August and we weren’t able to do that,” said the Northern Irishman.

“The addition of a few faces in January can freshen up the group and allow us to kick on.

“But it is all very well having absolute millions to spend if there is not the availability of players.

“It is not always about the finance and the affordability of the player, it is about the availability and if it’s not the right availability I won’t spend money just for the sake of it.

“Every manager would want to get them in as early as you possibly can and we have to give ourselves every chance.

“If we can get them in at the beginning, great, but if there is something which pops up at the end of the window we can look at it.”